Back in September, I became a cookbook ambassador for the 100 Days of Real Food cookbook. That means I was sent a cookbook to review and post my review on my blog. You can read my review here. So, do I still feel the same about this cookbook today? Definitely! I still highly recommend purchasing it. We loved everything we made so far and there’s still so much more we want to make. The recipes are pretty easy too. The cookbook and the recipes have met all of my expectations. Here is everything I have made from the cookbook, so far, and how we liked it. Sorry, no recipes. You will have to buy the cookbook for that. 😉 Heads-up, I will be saying a lot of “this was so good!” and “so easy to make”. Because they were! (FYI, my pictures are not even close to the beautiful pictures in the cookbook. I still use my iPhone to take pictures.)

Homemade Granola Cereal
This is one of my necessary staples now. I love to have it on yogurt or as cereal with almond milk, coconut milk, or hemp milk. So good! And I love how I can just use whatever kind of nuts or seeds I have. My husband and daughter love it too. My daughter wanted it plain in her lunch one time and just used a spoon to eat it (pictured below). I have only been making half a batch at a time because I never have enough ingredients on hand, but it worked out just fine. Below you can see it in yogurt with pomegranate, with almond milk and raisins, with almond milk and blueberries, and with yogurt and raspberries.

Eggs in a Basket
This was one of the first recipes we made from the cookbook. My kids requested it the next morning and are still requesting it. They love it! The first picture is obviously from the cookbook. I think my picture is a little more realistic on a busy weekday morning. 😉 The kids did not care how it looked. They ate it up so quick. You could put ketchup on it but my kids didn’t want it. Or maybe some cheese? They liked it as-is.

Potato Hash
I adjusted this recipe a bit to add in what we wanted but we did really like it. The potatoes were chopped to the perfect size! The trick to prevent them from sticking is to get the oil REALLY hot in the pan first.

Southwest Chicken Wraps
Wow the sauce for these wraps is so tasty! Everyone loved it except my daughter. She didn’t like the lime taste so we just put sour cream on hers. But the rest of us ate it all up. And I used the leftover sauce as a dressing on my salad the next day and it was really good.

Pizza Bites
We make these every now and then to freeze for my daughter to take in her lunches, or sometimes my son will have one for lunch too. I couldn’t find the exact size of the mini pita pockets but the ones I found at Trader Joe’s worked just fine.

Here they are in my daughter’s lunch:

Whole-Grain Pumpkin Muffins
I love anything pumpkin. These were so delicious. Everyone ate them so fast that there weren’t any left to freeze. I would have to make a double-batch to be able to freeze some. You can add to school lunches, eat with breakfast, or as a snack.

My daughter’s lunch with a pumpkin muffin (butter added):

Apple Sandwich
We did try making this and it worked just fine, but we decided we would just slice an apple and have some peanut butter on the side to dip in for packing school lunches. But it is a fun idea.

From the cookbook:

My daughter’s lunch:

Hummus Sandwiches Three Ways
I couldn’t believe my daughter wanted this sandwich in her lunch and actually liked it! We added spinach and cheese and then another time we also added tomato.

Mini Lunch-box Quiches
When I made these and asked everyone to try them, they were almost all gone in the same day! Everyone loved them so much that they had to have another one. I didn’t think my husband would even try them because he wasn’t crazy about my quiche. Well he loved it and says it is much better in a smaller version like this. My daughter liked it but didn’t like the crust. She just ate the top egg part. But she still ate two of them. You can freeze them or put in the fridge for later. They would be great as breakfast or in the lunch-box.

And here’s my daughter’s lunch with some cinnamon raisin bread in it. Of course it’s good with breakfast too!

Popcorn (in the microwave or on the stove)
As soon as I saw this on Lisa’s blog I have been making it. I don’t buy the packaged popcorn anymore and just make our own. I add real butter, salt, and a little cheese powder from our local food co-op. It’s all-natural. I pop it in the microwave but you can also do it on the stovetop. Packaged popcorn contains so many additives, unhealthy oils, and other questionable ingredients. You can pop some popcorn ahead of time and add it to lunches or for the kids’ snacks too!

Cinnamon Apple Chips
These were so good and our neighbor tried some too. He said that I really needed to make more. 😉 I thought I took a picture of them when they were done but can’t seem to find it. I think we were too anxious to eat them and since I shared with the neighbors too they got eaten up really fast! These would be great with breakfast, in a lunchbox, or as a snack.

The Best Whole Chicken in the Slow CookerandOvernight Chicken Stock in the Slow Cooker
I tried this long before the cookbook came out and have been doing it ever since! It’s nice to have all that chicken to freeze for future meals and to make the homemade broth to freeze and use later. It’s so much better for us and nice not to have to buy it.

The Best Pulled Pork in the Slow Cooker
This is so good! We did add some BBQ sauce to ours but didn’t even try it without the BBQ sauce. It probably would have been just as good without it. There is also a recipe for BBQ sauce in the cookbook too that I definitely want to make. We also added cheese and coleslaw to our pulled pork sandwiches.

From the cookbook:

My slightly adjusted version:

Peanut Butter Cookies
Oh man… I love peanut butter cookies. Everyone loved these, and they were gone quick. You can add to school lunches for a special treat! (As long as there are no peanut allergies of course.)

Sydney’s Honey Mustard Sauce
I tried this a while back after Lisa posted about it on her blog. So easy to make and good too! Unfortunately I cannot find the picture. I think it may be part of the photos that I lost after my laptop crashed. So here’s a picture from the cookbook. We dipped some homemade chicken nuggets into it. I don’t know why the honey mustard sauce you can buy in the grocery store has to have so many things added to it?? It doesn’t have to be so complicated.

And there are still many more recipes we want to try!

Whole-Wheat Banana Pancakes

Grandma Esther’s (Whole-Wheat) Crepes

Fruit Salad with Orange Zest

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

Breakfast Tacos

Grilled Cheese with Apples and Bacon

Easy Slow-Cooker Refried Beans

Black Bean Tostada

Tomato Bisque

PB&J Smoothie

Grilled Caprese Paninis

Onion Dip with Veggie Sticks

Pimento Cheese Crackers

How to Make the Perfect Juice – Three Ways

Spiced Nut Mix

Fruit Kabobs with Yogurt Dip

Shortcut Caesar Salad

Carrots with Rosemary

Veggie Pancakes

Zucchini with Almonds and Parmesan

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

Quinoa and Sausage-Stuffed Peppers

My Dad’s (Brown Rice) Risotto

Macaroni Casserole

Quinoa Veggie “Burgers”

Whole-Wheat Spaghetti and Meatballs

Veggie Corn Chowder

Whole-Wheat Pasta with Kale-Pesto Cream Sauce

Slow-Cooker BBQ Ribs

Homemade Ice Cream Three Ways

(Extra) Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites

Cinnamon-Glazed Popcorn

Frozen Yogurt Pops Two Ways

Mango Sorbet

Mini Chocolate Truffles

Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

And there are many of the homemade staples I want to try.

Wow, after listing all the recipes I still want to make, I am realizing there are so many! All that’s prevented me from making more of the recipes is the time to do it, and in some cases it may be the money too. Like for the homemade ice cream I would need to buy an Ice Cream Maker. And please note that these are not all the recipes left in the cookbook. Just the ones I want to make. (There are some seafood recipes too and we don’t really eat seafood.)

You can purchase the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook here:

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I have been making my own spaghetti sauce for a while now. It’s so easy I can’t believe I haven’t been doing this all along, and I love adding in all the herbs & seasonings. I used to buy the jar of Prego or Ragu and dump it in. You would think that the contents of those jars was just tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, some onion and herbs & seasonings. But no. There’s also calcium chloride, sugar, canola oil or soybean oil, natural flavors (which could mean anything), and none of it is organic. If you can find an organic jar of spaghetti sauce with all good ingredients, than great! I prefer to make my own and it’s pretty easy too. I also add in chopped veggies, kale/spinach, olives, whatever we have on hand and want to add in. Serve with spaghetti noodles or another type of noodle that you like. Zucchini noodles would be good! We also like to have bread with butter, or a biscuit. I make blueberry muffins sometimes, or cornbread would be good too. Of course garlic bread would be the best. For a vegetarian option just eliminate the hamburger.

Then add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and all the seasonings (and olives if desired). Cook for 10 - 15 minutes to thicken.

Notes

Tip: If you don't have a can of tomato sauce, you can add a 6 oz can of tomato paste instead and some water (I just fill the 6 oz can with water a couple times and add it but it just depends on how saucy you like it).

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I make slightly different versions of the sauce, depending on what veggies I have on hand. And I rarely measure.

Here’s my dinner the other night with organic spaghetti noodles, the homemade sauce, and organic corn on top. So good!

At the end of summer I had an abundance of tomatoes so I cut some up and froze them. It worked out just fine and I added some to our spaghetti sauce. My husband said it tasted better than usual. Fresh tomatoes from the garden as opposed to out of a can? Yep, I think so!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!

When my best friend was home recovering from a procedure, we came up with this soup to throw together using ingredients she had and I made it for her while she rested. Now I make it for myself for lunch quite often! It’s so easy and good. It lasts me 2 or 3 days, unless I’m sharing with my daughter, which I usually do. And she likes to take some to school in her Soup Thermos. If you want to make a bigger pot of this soup for the whole family or to freeze some, just double the recipe. At the end of last summer I blanched and froze a patty pan squash, so I use some of that in my soup. While you can leave the skin on summer squash, I found myself trying to cut it off while eating my soup. I just liked it better without the skin. But the skin does hold a lot of nutrients. The great thing about this soup is there are many options. Just add in any veggies and herbs you like. Homemade chicken broth is best. For a vegetarian option, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Of course, homemade soup is the better option. There are a few organic soups I buy sometimes. I check the ingredients and to see if they are BPA-free cans. Canned soups are usually in cans that contain BPA (Bisphenol A), a very dangerous chemical that can seep into the food. There are concerns on how BPA can affect the brain. And the soup itself is typically full of preservatives, artificial flavors, etc. Even the organic soups aren’t perfect. It is best to make a big batch of soup and freeze in smaller portions.

Start chopping the veggies/onion/potato and add them in, along with all the herbs & seasonings.

Then turn up the heat to medium after you add everything, keep it covered and stir occasionally. You will basically cook until the rice/quinoa is done and the carrots are tender. It's about 25 minutes of cooking time, after bringing it to a boil.

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Here’s the first batch I made of this soup. This one had rice in it. SO good!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!

I love Food Babe (Vani Hari). I love that she is right to the point about everything and isn’t afraid to say it how it is. She doesn’t just support organic foods and choose not to purchase the bad foods. She fights to have those companies change their ways. Sure, we could all just look the other way and not care because we aren’t the ones eating that food. But there are people out there that are eating it. And we are still eating it on occasion during our ‘cheat’ times. There’s no reason we shouldn’t fight to get them to change. The production of that food and everything around it affects us in one way or another.

Of course, there are people out there that don’t like that Food Babe is fighting so hard. And they are getting very defensive and protective over everything she is putting out there. This is causing threats towards her, and some very nasty comments. I guess people just can’t handle the truth! If it wasn’t for Food Babe, I would just trust anything that says natural, or organic. It’s because of Vani that I am reading labels on everything now. I am always open to more information about our food system. And Itake everything with a grain of salt. I like to do my own research and figure things out for myself instead of just believing everything I hear. I’m pretty good at filtering out things I don’t agree with and keeping what I think is right. There are those things that we come across and aren’t sure about. They stay out there in the grey area somewhere and eventually they might make sense. And sometimes we think we understand something and it goes back to that grey area. That’s okay. Our food system is far more complex than I would have ever thought.

When I saw Vani’s book and the chance to review it, I jumped at the offer. I wanted to read it right away and get the information out to you all. Well let me tell you, I did not want to put the book down. But I had to of course. Life with kids is too busy to sit and read all day. 😉 I thought that I would already know most of what is in the book. The information about our food system, the investigations that Food Babe did, and her story. Well I was wrong. There is so much information included, I definitely learned a lot! She doesn’t just tell us that something is bad for us and we shouldn’t eat it. She has done the research to back it up. And provides all the information, data, resources, etc. When it goes into Vani’s story from when she was growing up and how she ate, I could totally relate. I too was addicted to candy and junk food and can tell you about a time I ate Sour Patch Kids for breakfast! I was so addicted to refined sugar and just didn’t think about it or take the time to care. I could really relate to a lot of what she was saying. My health problems didn’t come on quite as drastically as hers did but I felt like they were severe at the time.

In The Food Babe Way, you’ll learn how to:

Develop 21 simple, lasting habits that will get you off chemical-laced food for good;

Avoid the top 15 ingredients that wreak havoc on your weight, beauty, and health;

Spot manipulative marketing and manufacturing techniques the food industry uses to get you to eat processed foods or hide questionable ingredients;

Replace the foods that make you fat, look older, and sap your energy with healthful, delicious substitutes;

Prepare dozens of additive-free meals with easy and delicious recipes.

Reading about the investigations Food Babe accomplished and the changes the food companies made afterwards got me all-fired-up. We all really can make a difference! And we should be fighting for our health and the health of others. We all live in this world together and it all affects us in one way or another. Vani has encouraged me to use my voice. Investigate, research, speak-up. I hope that my family/friends don’t consider it as an insult towards them or think that I’m crazy when I explain to them what is in the food they are eating. I just care about them and want them to be healthy and live a longer life. So, sometimes I do decide to speak-up and other times I stay out of things. I decided to speak-up when KFC posted on Twitter that their nuggets in the popcorn chicken are made from the world’s best chicken. Really?!? I had to say something. And my reply got some attention! My reply was: “@KFC The world’s best chicken?? So your chicken is not from factory-farmed chickens? Your chickens are outside roaming around? No.” I wanted to say more but you are limited on the number of characters on Twitter. My reply was ‘favorited’ and retweeted right away and I had some nice replies too, supporting what I said. You just never know I guess! Companies like that should not be able to get away with saying that kind of stuff. They are lying. How can they say it is the world’s best chicken??? Come on…. That post got 432 views. I hardly ever have any action on Twitter. That got me pumped up and excited to keep fighting. And no, KFC did not reply…

So, back to the book. I love that Vani goes into details about all the different diets. What they are, why she thinks they are flawed, and what chemicals you might be exposed to on those diets. I think this information will be very helpful to so many people that think they are on a good diet. I got so excited reading about Food Babe’s 21 day health plan! I wanted to start it right away. When I started Day 1, the lemon & cayenne pepper drink in the morning instead of my usual coffee, I was grumpy but felt like I really needed to do this. Sure, I love coffee. But I know it’s not doing my body any good right now. I’m not saying coffee isn’t good for you. And one day, maybe I will add it back in. Right now I just need to cleanse my body of all the toxins and get well. I’m sick of being sick every.single.day. I need to heal my gut. I realized I am already doing a lot of the 21 days of habits listed in the book but there was still a plethora of information included and I learned a lot. And reading about the other habits that I haven’t been doing has motivated me to make changes. Some I had thought about before but haven’t done anything to make the change yet. Food Babe has encouraged me to take that next step. I’m not sure if I will do everything listed but I will try. The only thing I would add to the list is to clean out all the toxins in your home. From cleaners, to soaps, to candles and air-fresheners, and anything else you are breathing or are exposed to. Everything that you breath and that touches your skin can seep into your body.

Love this. Straight out of the book:

After the 21 day health plan is the 21 day eating plan, followed by recipes that coincide. This includes information about the ingredients in the plan to help guide you, like what kind of flour and oil to choose, and much more. And some of those recipes sound really good! Much better than I expected. I already made a smaller version of the Ginger Berry Smoothie, a slightly different version of the Quinoa Veggie Scramble (just cauliflower ‘rice’ instead of quinoa because I had some I needed to use up), and the Creamy Kale and Artichoke Dip. All three were very good!

I’m excited to try the following recipes:

Breakfast Burritos w/sweet potatoes,

Cinnamon Raisin French Toast Crunch,

Spicy Tomato Kale Soup,

Open-Faced Crunchy Veggie Sandwich,

White Bean Chili,

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup,

Organic Homemade Frappuccino,

Sweet Potato Fries,

Almond Chocolate Freezer Fudge,

And much more!

There’s even more information included in the back of the book. How to start a petition, tons of resources, a rundown of how much certain corporations spent during the past 12 months to make sure GMOs aren’t labeled, followed by a bibliography. I highly recommend this book and think that everyone should read it! I did think that some of the promises to lose weight and become healthy were a little much, but I do believe if you stay on a healthy path you will get there. And The Food Babe Way will definitely guide you. Overall I think it was a great book and would be worth purchasing. I think I will be going back through this book many times, and it’s always great having more recipes on hand!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!

Let’s face it, it’s really hard to find a babysitter for Valentine’s Day. Everyone wants to spend it with their loved one. So last year we had some fun with the kids on Valentine’s Day and then went to do our thing on another day when we could get a babysitter. So what we did is melt some chocolate, and dip yummy healthier foods in the chocolate sauce. It was a lot of fun and SO good. Also included below are some healthier options for those Valentines the kids bring in to class, how to make dye-free natural red/pink food coloring, and a fun Valentine’s breakfast idea. The holidays can still be fun, even when you are trying to be all-natural and healthier!

The Chocolate Sauce
I used dark chocolate chips or carob chocolate chips, add a little milk, and stir frequently while it’s heating up. Just keep adding milk to get the consistency you want. I have a really neat mini crockpot I use to keep the chocolate sauce warm.

Recipe for the peanut butter balls (pictured above): For about 2 dozen, I did 3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1/4 cup butter, softened, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and about 1 cup powdered sugar. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl mix the peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar with your hands to form a dough. Shape into balls and place on the baking sheet. Refrigerate until ready to use. If you want a healthier option, here’s a recipe (just omit the chocolate chips).

Recipe for the mini sugar cookies: I still haven’t posted this recipe yet but I have been using this one for a while now. It makes about 2 dozen cookies but it depends on the size. Since we are going smaller it should be more. 3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs & vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Form into small round balls, place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 – 10 minutes.

Recipe for the donuts (or mini donuts): I followed this recipe and just didn’t put in the chocolate chips. If you do mini donuts, I recommend baking at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.

Here’s the mini donut pan I have and I love it! The donuts popped out of the pan very easily, I didn’t have to grease it, and it’s 100% silicone and dishwasher-safe.

The marshmallows I buy (vegan, gluten-free, gelatin-free, GMO-free – ingredients are Tapioca Syrup, Cane Sugar, Tapioca Starch, Filtered Water, Carrageenan, Soy Protein, Natural Vanilla Flavor. I’m not happy about the carrageenan but the other ingredients are better than regular marshmallows which usually contain corn syrup, refined sugar, dextrose, modified cornstarch, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, artificial flavor, and blue #1. Of course making your own would be the best option. And I am not against gelatin. I think it definitely has some health benefits.):

Healthier Options for Valentines
There are organic lollipops, fruit snack packs, or valentines gummy bears by YumEarth (shown below), Annie’s valentines fruit snack packs (that I haven’t been able to find yet), and Trader Joe’s has organic lollipops too. Or you can tape something else to the valentines like a pencil, stickers, those little tattoos, rings, erasers, etc. It’s also okay to just hand out valentines, with nothing attached. Maybe even make homemade valentines. Kids might not think this is AS cool but we don’t always have to go all out for every-single-holiday. Maybe we can do something cool for one holiday and then be more relaxed on the next, and take a break!

Natural Pink Food Coloring
I was able to make a pretty pink natural food coloring using raspberries. You don’t need a juicer to make this either. Just cook 6 oz of raspberries in a pan on med until it turns into a sauce. Then strain the seeds and cook the sauce longer until thickened. Cool to room temp and add to your frosting. See the color below on my daughter’s birthday cake.

Don’t want to mess around with homemade food coloring? No problem. Here’s some all-natural food coloring you can purchase through Amazon:

Fun Valentine’s Breakfast
You could make my apple cinnamon pancakes and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make them into heart-shaped pancakes (make sure it’s not a plastic cookie cutter so it doesn’t melt when using it on the pan to make the shapes). Then you can make heart-shaped fruit to go with using a mini heart-shaped cookie cutter, or to make heart-shaped strawberries, just cut off the green stem, cut a V into the top of the strawberry, and slice.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!

I was working full-time when I started getting Fibromyalgia symptoms. I was in and out of the doctor’s office but still tried to work full-time. I worked full-time for 5 months and then my boss let me switch to part-time. It was definitely easier to manage things at home but after a while I still felt like I never got any down-time and it was hard to keep up. My time at home was filled with other things. Especially since I really wanted to spend more time on this blog! So we finally felt like we were financially stable enough for me to stay home. Now my job is to manage everything at home, take care of my health and my kids, and work on this blog. But I love it! So here is what it was like for me at work vs. what it is like at home, and pros & cons of each.

Fibromyalgia at Work:
It was nice sitting down at a desk throughout the day and having the adult interaction. I got to eat my lunch and take a break in peace. It was much quieter too. And being at work kept me on a schedule. I had a designated time to eat breakfast and lunch. At home sometimes I don’t end up having lunch until like 2. I get busy with something and forget. It was nice feeling like I accomplished something. At home sometimes I feel like I didn’t get anything done all day when in reality, I did do something but it was bits and pieces so it didn’t feel like much. And sometimes I do miss dressing up and looking professional instead of being in my pajamas or jeans all the time. It was a good feeling to feel important, doing something to contribute to society and feeling appreciated. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel appreciated sometimes at home. But not like I did with my job. I liked having the excuse of work though. ‘My house is a mess because I work and don’t have time to clean it’, lol. Now it’s like, uh… my house is a mess because I have Fibro and don’t have the energy to keep up with it all the time. If I spent all my time and energy cleaning I wouldn’t be able to make all the food that I make and blog about stuff. And wouldn’t be able to do all the fun things with my kids.

Sitting down that much was also killing me. I don’t like to sit for that long. It hurts, and my body gets stiff. The stress at work wasn’t good for me either. Stress can make us physically hurt and have a flare-up. It was also hard to interact with people all the time, especially when I didn’t feel good. I would have to put on a smile and not show how I really felt. That was VERY hard for me. If I am in pain I have a hard time keeping that to myself. The bright lights were too much sometimes, and it was hard to work in an office building in the summer when I wanted to be outside in the sunshine. It’s good for us and my body needs it. It is definitely easier to take care of myself at home and do what I need to do. If it’s sunny, I can drop what I’m doing and go outside. If I need to make a smoothie or have some tea, I can anytime. I can’t make all the things I want to make if I’m at work all the time. At home I make bread once/week, homemade granola sometimes, I experiment with different foods. I was able to keep up with the garden and I cooked pumpkins to make pumpkin puree. These are things that would be much harder to do if I had to work too. Sure, they could be done. But my time would be filled up from morning to night and I would not have that much energy. My spoons would be long gone! And I wouldn’t have time to blog about all these things either.

Fibromyalgia at Home:
There is more physical work at home for sure that does get to me at times but I feel like it is good to keep moving and keep busy. I don’t think about the pain and exercise is good. When my kids fight it gives me bad anxiety. I usually just separate them but that’s hard sometimes too. It is much easier to keep up with the housework at home. I have all week to do what I normally tried to cram into the weekend. And vacuuming alone can be a lot of work, so I like to do that one day and do other stuff the next day. Spread it out so I don’t suffer as much. I can also do what I need to for my health. If I need to sit down, I can. If I need to move around, I can. At work, I was stuck sitting. But at home I never feel like I can take a nap or have too much down-time, like I thought I would be able to do. There’s always something to do around here and it really is like you are never leaving your job! I have guilt too, for not being the one to bring in money to support our family. So I try to save money wherever I can. And I always make sure the important things are done. Dishes, dinner, kids are taken care of, etc.

Home in the Summer – In the summer, we are a lot more active. I try to get things done at home in the morning so that we can do what we want to do in the afternoon. Keeping a schedule is harder. I might say Monday is laundry day but really, it takes me all week to get it all done. We are a lot more relaxed in the summer. We just eat when we are hungry instead of scheduled times. We get up late and I always said I am going to set an alarm so I can have at least an hour before the kids get up, but no. Never happened. As you know, mornings with Fibro are very hard. So we would get up, do our own thing for a bit, have breakfast, do a chore and some kind of schoolwork. We made a chart for Monday – Friday that has a chore, schoolwork, and a life lesson. (More on this below.) Then do what we want to do for the afternoon. Maybe go to the pool, park, ride bikes, just play outside, go visit someone, go on the boat with daddy when he gets home. I get a lot more exercise in the summer and sunshine! I feel better because of that. It’s a lot harder to blog in the summer than winter for sure! 😉 We are just very busy so I was trying to do at least 1 post/week.

Home in the Winter – Well, I assumed everything would be easier in the Winter because we wouldn’t be so busy. I thought I would be able to get projects done around here, more cleaning, and more blog posts. My Fibro is a lot worse in the Winter. There are days I barley get anything done and look forward to the next time I can sit down. It also didn’t help that I got off of a natural supplement I was taking. No energy, major Fibro Fog all the time, some kind of pain all the time, anxiety if something comes up that is more for me to worry about or to have to do. Family functions, school activities, etc. The holidays were insane. So, I can barely function. I do the minimum possible and projects just start piling up again. Then I only take care of extra stuff when I really have to. I tried doing some kind of exercise each day hoping it would help but I think I pushed myself too hard and it had the opposite affect. I am more depressed too. So I get up and focus on my daughter first. Making sure she gets ready, has her breakfast, and we make her lunch. Then we go out to the bus stop with the dog. After she leaves, my son and I have breakfast and some quiet time so I can get on the computer and check messages, write blog posts, do my work. I was also doing my exercise, the dog has to be taken out several times, we have lunch, we try to take the dog on a walk every day, we go grocery shopping once/week, there’s dishes to do every day, laundry, cleaning, bills to pay, you get the idea. 😉

Chore Chart (from Summer): We did this in the summer and do still have chores during the school-year but not as much. It’s hard enough trying to get dinner done, my daughter’s homework (that we spend a lot of time on sometimes), her Art class is after school once/week, and then all the usual bedtime stuff, with a small amount of time to play. Our chore chart is for Monday – Friday in the summer, but you can do this all year long if you want, and consists of a chore, schoolwork, and a life lesson. This was nothing fancy. We don’t have a working printer right now so we just made this by hand. I did not spend a lot of time on it but you could make pictures and everything. I’m not very artistic lol.

Chores – The chores consist of sweeping, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathroom, wipe counters and the kitchen table. Of course each kid might have a different chore depending on their age. Tyler (4, at the time) can do a lot of things but he is shorter and it’s harder for him to push a big vacuum than it is for Kailey (8, at the time). There are other chores that they do sometimes too like change the cat and dog’s water each day and make sure they have food, put their clothes away, put toys away, clean their rooms, help put groceries away, water the garden, etc.

Schoolwork – The schoolwork consists of writing, math, counting $, shapes & colors (fun for Kailey and learning for Tyler), telling time (Kailey), and reading (Tyler). Kailey is to read every weeknight before bed.

Life Lessons – The life lessons consist of tying their shoes (Kailey has this mastered now but sometimes I have her teach Tyler and that helps me out), a fire drill, cooking lesson, earthquake drill, and anything else I can think of. Maybe going over some family rules, what to do if a stranger comes up to you, when and how to dial 911, etc.

We didn’t always follow exactly what the chore chart said. Sometimes we didn’t need to dust so we did something else. Or we would swap a chore with a different day. Basically we just did what needed to be done. This really helped me stay on track too and get things done. Otherwise I might say, ‘I really need to do this’ and forget and move on to something else. We did the Chore Chart in the morning before the kids were allowed to go outside to play with their friends in the summer. During the school-year, Kailey is at school so things are a little different. When she gets home, she has to do a chore and her homework but it really depends on the weather. We don’t have a lot of nice days here in Washington during the school-year. If it’s sunny out, I’m going to let her play outside when she gets home and do her chore and homework later. But like I said, this is rare. It’s usually raining or at least cloudy in the Fall/Winter. And Tyler is helping me during the day with things like unloading the dishwasher (the silverware mostly), helping put groceries away, he likes to help make the bread, do some juicing, and other things I make, he will sweep sometimes with a little broom. And he does preschool activities.

So there you go. This is my view of working vs. being home and how it effected my Fibro. A lot of people ask how Fibro is while working and how it is at home. Obviously not everyone has a choice to be home. I am not really sure which is better for Fibro. There are challenges with both. I knew that I really wanted to be home. Now that I have been home for a while, there are some good things about going back to work but the thought of managing work and home gives me a lot of anxiety. I hope that I can continue to stay home and do what I love to do. Tyler will start Kindergarten in the Fall but it will only be for half a day. I am still planning to stay home and use that time that he is gone for the blog or anything else I need to get done without any distractions. We shall see what the future holds. I’m not going to rule anything out. 😀

I made baked potato soup before but it calls for a lot of milk so I wanted a potato soup that wasn’t so heavy. This one is really good and only uses 2 cups of milk and some chicken broth instead. Of course, homemade chicken broth is best but I buy the Pacific brand sometimes. You can make this soup without the milk if you want (just add more chicken broth). The milk just gives it that creamy potato soup look and taste. For a vegetarian option just leave out the bacon and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Cook the bacon in a large pot (I cook right in the pot I'm cooking the soup in to save on dishes), remove and set aside in a papertowel.

Drain the grease and add onion, celery & carrots to the pot. Sauté for a couple minutes. Add diced potatoes, salt & pepper, garlic powder. Stir and sauté for a few more minutes.

Pour in the broth, add the parsley, and bring to a gentle boil. Crumble the bacon and add (if you want to add corn and/or kale you can put that in now too).

Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes on medium, or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the milk and bring to a gentle boil while stirring consistently. Reduce heat and cook about 10 minutes. Continue stirring frequently. You basically just want to cook until it's the right consistency. Add shredded cheese if desired. It does help thicken it.

Notes

If you don't cook the bacon in the same pot then you will need to add a little oil before putting the onion, carrots & celery into the pot.

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Another picture of this delicious soup!

It would be really good with some homemade bread! I make bread every week using my bread machine. I mostly make it for my kids but who can resist a slice of bread fresh out of the oven with some real butter on it?! That’s usually the only time I have a piece. Otherwise I try to avoid bread/crackers. You can find the recipe here, by Real Fit, Real Food Mom. After seeing this recipe, I started using my bread machine again after sitting in the cupboard for 10 years! Crazy, huh? And it still works great. I also make our pizza dough in it. One of these days I will have to post that recipe.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!

We love a good stew on a Fall/Winter day. Put it in the crock pot (slow cooker) early in the day and you get to smell all those good smells ALL-DAY-LONG. I have perfected this recipe now, to the point that everyone loves it and has seconds! And my husband and daughter both wanted to take it for lunch the next day. My son ate it but he is weird about dinner. He loves breakfast and he loves lunch. Dinner is hit and miss with him, so I don’t take it personal. 😉

There are 2 options. You can chop the onion and make a layer at the bottom of the crock pot, cover the meat with flour and add to the crock pot, on high (you don't have to cover with flour but this adds extra flavor and helps thicken the broth some). Or, you can brown the flour-covered meat in a pan with oil first before adding to the crock pot (I use coconut oil). And add a little beef broth towards the end to deglaze the pan. We like this method best but it does use an extra pan.

Start adding the seasonings and beef broth to the crock pot. Add the chopped carrots and celery (and onion if you haven't already).

For the potatoes, you can add them now or later. If you add them now they will be mushier. So it just depends on how you like it. If you want to add them later, add them about 2 hours before you want to eat (depending on how small you cut the potatoes). I usually just put them in at the beginning, but add them in last.

Set the crock pot for either 8-10 hours (low) or 4-6 hours (high), depending on how much time you have. I usually have everything ready before noon and set for 6 hours.

Notes

Fresh bread & butter or a homemade biscuit would be really good with this stew!

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Here’s the crock pot I use and I love it! There are other options through Amazon, with different prices too.
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Doesn’t that look so good? This batch had zucchini & bell pepper in it too. Yum! (And that’s minced onion because I ran out of regular onion.)

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!

This is Part II of my organic lunch series. (I’m not sure how many parts there will be.) To see Part I go here, which includes sandwiches without mayo, soup, and leftover rice/noodles. Part II is mostly leftovers and pizza, but a few other things we came up with too. I usually give her ice water with her lunch, with a small slice of lemon sometimes.

Pizza

Of course you can still have pizza in a homemade lunch. There are a few options. 1) Make-ahead pizzas that you have ready in the freezer, 2) leftover pizza from dinner, or 3) a make-your-own pizza (not pictured) that they put together themselves at lunch time. I think the make-ahead pizzas work great. We followed the recipe from the 100 Days of Real Food cookbook and it’s so nice to just pull out a pizza, put it in her lunch, and it’s thawed by lunchtime. And leftover pizza is definitely an easy option. I make pizza at home sometimes and use my bread machine to knead the dough. We did try the make-your-own pizza before. We just put in mini pita pockets, some pizza sauce in a little bowl with a lid (like her pink one shown below), some shredded cheese, and toppings she likes (pepperoni, pieces of ham, pineapple, olives, bell pepper, etc.). It seems like my daughter likes to have her pizza already made for her. 😉

(Details: I usually buy Muir Glen organic pizza sauce, Applegate uncured pepperoni, and I usually make pizza for us to have at home for dinner using my bread machine to knead the dough. We usually have leftovers too. For the little pizzas, I used Trader Joe’s pita pockets for the crust.)

Apples or Crackers with Peanut Butter

We tried the apple & peanut butter sandwiches and they were kind-of a pain to make so we just did apple slices with pb to dip in after that. She also likes cracker sandwiches with pb & honey, or you could do pb & jelly or just pb.

(Details: I buy the Trader Joe’s organic peanut butter with just one ingredient – organic peanuts. For the pretzels, I sometimes go with Trader Joe’s brand or the Newman’s Own brand. It just depends on where I’m shopping. I buy the Late July brand crackers. And just a note on the Stonyfield yogurt tube, we freeze them and she only has these once in a while. They do have carrageenan in them. Hoping that changes one day!)

My daughter likes to have a quesadilla once in a while, or hummus to dip pretzels/carrots and one time she brought in a hotdog because they have access to a microwave on Fridays. This is a rare occasion but nice to have a hotdog once in a while. She does bring trail mix quite often. I make it myself by just putting together different kinds of nuts, seeds, raisins, popcorn or Annie’s bunny crackers, and sometimes I throw in a few chocolate chips.

Hummus Dip – with pretzels, a few chocolate chips, carrots, tomatoes, cheese, and frozen applesauce; or

A Hotdog – with ketchup and relish, a cheese stick, carrots & celery, and an apple.

(Details: I get my tortillas from our local food co-op, the pumpkin muffin recipe is found here (you could make a big batch and freeze some), I buy organic popcorn sometimes or make my own, I use Lilly’s red pepper hummus, the frozen applesauce is in a smoothie-pop-mold, the hotdog is the Applegate brand, and I buy Trader Joe’s hotdog buns sometimes, we also found a natural Franz brand, or I have also made my own but haven’t done that in a while. I can’t seem to get the shape right but will try again one of these days.)

We do leftovers whenever we can. She especially likes leftover spaghetti which she will eat cold but now that we have a soup thermos she can bring it warm and it stays warm. The tortellini is in the soup thermos. And FYI, that tortellini lunch was a special lunch I put together for Halloween. Blood-themed, with carrot & olive fingers and pumpkin seeds, lol. We also have Annie’s mac ‘n cheese on occasion, so she will take leftovers of that mixed with some ham or steak and she would eat that cold too but now she can bring it warm in the soup thermos.

Leftover Spaghetti with Corn – served with a zucchini cookie, cucumber, tomatoes, grapes, and those are actually homemade canned peaches;

(Details: The zucchini cookie recipe can be found here. We actually canned peaches during the summer and this was the first time we ever canned anything. They turned out kind-of mushy but really good. We used a honey/lemon/water mixture. I buy Annie’s mac ‘n cheese on occasion. Most of these veggies were from out of our first organic garden. The harvest berry granola bar is the Cascadian Farm brand. The pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe can be found here. I made the tortellini with olives, smoked pork sausage, tomato sauce and different herbs & seasonings. And I let her take a little cherry juice in her lunch that day because we were going with a Halloween-themed bloody lunch just for fun. 😉 )

Here are some of the lunch box items from above:

And here are some other lunch box items that would be neat to have!

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Do you have any resolutions for the new year? I know for me I really really need to develop an exercise routine and stick to it! I have talked about this for so long now. It would be nice to have a treadmill but we just don’t have the room for that. I would love a treadmill desk!!! For now we take the dog on walks and I’m always doing things around the house but I need to develop even just a 15 min routine I can do every morning and stick to it. I get wrapped up in what I’m doing around the house, or on the blog. Maybe I will set an alarm on my phone? 😉 I rode my bike a lot in the summer. It’s harder to get exercise when it’s so cold out. The cold just really hurts and makes Fibro worse.

Here are some of our posts (in no particular order) that may help you feel better this year, and meet those resolutions. Or maybe you don’t have any resolutions yet and need to figure out one that works for you. This may help.

Buy your First Organic Cookbook – Maybe this isn’t a resolution but it would help you cook more organic foods! I was lucky to be chosen as a cookbook ambassador for 2 really great cookbooks. I now own my first 2 organic cookbooks. My review of these cookbooks is included in each link below, and there’s a 3rd option for purchase (one that I don’t own yet but am planning to buy).

Make a School Lunch Every Day – Do your kids take a lunch from home just sometimes and now you want to start making one every-single-day (or have them make one)? Here are some ideas, and I’m working on Part II of this series!

Make Your Own Chicken Broth – You could start making your own homemade chicken broth. It’s easy to do and SO much better for you. You get a lot of broth and there are many ways to use it. And there are so many benefits to bone broth. They are listed in this post.

Save Money – Did you spend too much in 2014 and want to save some money to be able to buy more organic food? 😉 Here are my money saving tips. I am constantly trying to save money so we can continue to eat the way we do.

Start a Garden – It’s not too early to start thinking about a garden for this year. I’m already thinking about what we want to plant next. We had our first organic garden last year and overall I would say it went really great! (FYI, the picture below, on the right, is not from our garden but from my Grandma’s.)

Juice or Make Smoothies – Do you want to juice or make smoothies? Or maybe you do it already but want to do it more often. I do both but definitely make smoothies more than juice. Here is my comparison of the two.

Lose Weight – This is what I did and ended up shedding off 30 pounds over several months, without trying to lose weight. I just wanted to feel better. I know everyone is different, but this worked for me.

Help Spouse and/or Kids Eat Organic – Maybe you are eating completely organic and now you want to help your spouse and/or kids to completely make the switch. Here’s what I did to help my husband and kids eat organic foods.

Survive Fibro – We all know there’s no cure for Fibro but we can try to survive it each day. Here are my Tips for Surviving Fibro. If you just want to feel better, try some of these tips that you can incorporate into your daily routine.

Get Rid of the Chemicals in Your Home – Do you still have chemicals in your home? Start with making your own cleaners. Here are my natural cleaners, and I especially like the hand soap.

Switch to All Organic – Maybe you buy some things organic but you want to make the complete switch, or do you know someone who is thinking about making the switch? You can share this with them.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same, but Organic Fibro Mommies will earn a small commission (which helps to offset web hosting fees, maintenance, etc.). Your support is greatly appreciated!